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Circe, Kalypso, And Penelope In Homer's Odyssey

678 Words3 Pages

In the famous book known to us as, The Odyssey of Homer, by Homer, translated by Richmond Lattimore, three women Circe, Kalypso, and Penelope have different types of relationships with Odysseus. While their types of love differ, they have some reasons of love in common. All of the women love Odysseus in differing amounts. It starts with Circe, who cares the least and whose love is mostly out of respect and friendship. Next it would be Kalypso, whose love is slightly stronger than Circe’s, and it is mostly out of desperation, and selfishness. Lastly Penelope, whose love is the strongest of the two, and is out of true love and admiration.
Circe has a much more “mutual” relationship with Odysseus compared to the other women in his life such as …show more content…

She has no care about how Odysseus missed her wife, she was just desperate and wanted a husband. You can tell she is desperate because she even offers to give him immortality and even share the ruling of her kingdom. Kalypso says, “Son of Laertes and seed of Zeus, resourceful Odysseus, are you still so eager to go on back to your own house and the land of your fathers? I wish you well, however you do it, but if you only knew in your own heart how many hardships you were fated to undergo before getting back to your country, you would stay here with me and be the lord of this household and be an immortal…” (93, 203-209). This quote explains her desperation to have a husband. She even offers Odysseus Immortality and leadership of the household in exchange for him just being here. Odysseus is also shown to be very depressed even crying, and the fact that she has not even let him go yet is abominable. The text even explains this by saying, “But Hermes did not find great-hearted Odysseus indoors, but he was sitting on the beach, crying, as before now he had done, breaking his heart in tears, lamentation, and sorrow, as weeping tears he looked out over the barren water” (90. 81-84). This explains that Odysseus has been depressed as a result of being cooped up with Kalypso and not being let free, this proves how Kalypso is to selfish and desperate to

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